Chase startled awake, looking around the library, confused. "What?" he said, rubbing his eyes with the back of the hand that wasn't holding a book. He looked down at that, too. "'In Search of Lost Time'," he read out loud, and then he remembered. He glanced at Ari with a sheepish look on his face. "Whoops. How embarrassing. A book hasn't put me to sleep since ninth grade." He stood up and stretched, setting the book down on the chair as he faced Ari.
"And home isn't exactly the best place for sleep, either," he added, shaking his head. His glasses slid down his nose, and he absently pushed them back up as he said, "Married life is hard. Enjoyable, and worth it, but it's not easy." With an easy smile, he sat back down, and motioned to an empty chair nearby. He was still sleepy, but managed to put that far enough past him to muster conversational skills. "How are you, Ari?"